ESPN.com - Golf Online - US Open Men 2000 - Beauty of course, beast of a challenge

By Doug Ferguson
Associated Press
Thursday, June 15

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Before Tiger Woods builds upon his legacy, before Phil Mickelson tries to atone for last year, before everyone else in the U.S. Open braces for the toughest test in golf, they should all say thanks to Samuel Morse.


	The 18th at Pebble Beach is one of the most recognizable holes in golf. Pebble Beach is known as the ``greatest meeting of land and water in the world.''

In 1915, Morse took over as manager of the property that is now Pebble Beach Golf Links and decided to scrap plans for a subdivision of 50-by-100-foot lots along a magnificent stretch of coastline off Carmel Bay.

In its place is the ultimate surf 'n' turf, a course known as "the greatest meeting of land and water in the world."

It winds through cypress, pine and oak trees, over Stillwater Cove, across the Pacific and along the Cliffs of Doom, a three-hole stretch of par-4s where one bad swing could leave the ball on the shore below.

"The thing that Pebble Beach does is it gives you an absolutely great golf course with some of the most spectacular scenery you'll ever see while standing on a golf course," said Lanny Wadkins, who won the 1977 PGA Championship at Pebble. "It starts on the first hole, and just gets better as the round goes on."

Just don't get too wrapped up in the view.

Along with splendor comes survival, which is required of those who want to win the U.S. Open that begins Thursday. Only the best players can claim to have won an Open at Pebble Beach, with final rounds remembered for some of the most memorable shots in golf history.

In 1972, it was Jack Nicklaus hitting a 1-iron into the cold, hard wind on the par-3 17th, the ball kissing the flagstick and stopping 6 inches away. He went on to win.

Ten years later, it was Tom Watson chipping in from the thick, kikuyu rough behind the 17th green for a birdie that denied Nicklaus a record fifth title.

And in 1992, it was Tom Kite escaping danger from the rough behind the green on the shortest, scariest hole in golf -- the 106-yard seventh -- by chipping in for birdie.

One of the most poignant memories at this U.S. Open will be of Payne Stewart, the defending champion who was among six people killed in a plane crash Oct. 25. It's the first time a U.S. Open champion has been unable to defend since Ben Hogan was critically injured in a car crash in 1949.

Hogan went on to win four U.S. Opens, same as Nicklaus. Woods is trying to win his first, but he'll be a heavy favorite.

He has finished out of the top five just twice in his last 25 tournaments around the world, and Pebble Beach is a course he does well on.

In his first pro tournament at Pebble Beach in 1997, he nearly made up a 10-stroke deficit on the weekend with rounds of 63-64, coming up one stroke short. In February, he added to the rich history of great moments by making up seven strokes over the last seven holes for his sixth straight PGA Tour victory.

But that was at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am where it usually rains, the wind often howls and everyone has a good time.

The U.S. Open is a different test under the most severe conditions. The rough could be as high as 4½ inches, the greens hard and crusty, the margin of error next to nil.

And the wind is always in season.

"It will be hard to keep the ball in the fairway," Woods said. "Knowing how the USGA likes to set up their greens, it's like trying to land it on a tarmac and make it bite. It will be a very interesting test of golf."

Woods needs a U.S. Open and British Open to become the youngest player to complete the career Grand Slam. Vijay Singh is the only player who can win all four majors this year because of his three-stroke victory in The Masters.

He finished second to Woods at Pebble Beach in February.

"I've always played well at Pebble. I love the course," Singh said. "You haven't got a better setting than Pebble Beach. It's a golf course where every player in the top 10 has played well in the past, so I think it's going to be one hell of an Open."

Woods and Singh aren't the only players who have fond memories of Pebble.

David Duval has a share of the course record, a 10-under 62 in 1997. Mickelson, the runner-up last year to Stewart, made his professional debut at Pebble Beach in the '92 Open and shot a 68. He followed with an 81 and missed the cut.

"I tried to force birdies on a U.S. Open course, something you just cannot do," Mickelson said. "Last year showed what I am capable of when I am patient and play smart."

Mickelson and Duval, along with Colin Montgomerie, are regarded as the best players without a major. Perhaps that will change this week, just as it did for Kite in 1992.

Montgomerie made his U.S. Open debut that year and finished third with an even-par 288.

"I probably wasn't ready to win," the Scotsman said. "I am now."

Montgomerie was second at Oakmont in 1994 and at Congressional in 1997. This is his favorite major championship because of the premium on accuracy.

"I don't know why everybody keeps asking each year what it's going to be like," Duval said. "The U.S. Open tries for high rough and fast greens and fairways that are very hard. I've yet to play in one that didn't have that."

Still, Pebble Beach offers what few other U.S. Open courses can.

It requires a shot over the ocean on the par-4 eighth. It features a par-3 that measures a mere 106 yards but takes anything from a sand wedge to a 3-iron. And it closes with one of the most famous holes in golf, the par-5 18th where tee shots cut across the ocean and down the coastline, surf pounding the rocks along the way.

Just think. There might have been a row of houses there.

Instead, there will be a U.S. Open champion who can best mix major championship golf at its highest level and the panoramic pleasure of Pebble Beach.